Gareth has published half a dozen novels, made a horror film, run a 90 kilometre race in which he bled through his shoes, successfully failed to play right wing for Manchester United, attempted the Olympics at 38, wrestled a ghost, been the spokesperson for a company whose head office exploded, been run over by a Honda, survived two almost plane crashes and is currently filming a superhero TV show. And yet Gareth’s story is also your story. It’s about the small moments and the big events that make up a life. About the few victories and the many defeats, the adventures and the calamities. The missteps and the madness. From his bumbling days at school, to fumbled encounters with girlfriends and disasters on the sports field and in the office … this is a story for boys and men everywhere. And for women, of course, because Ka-Boom! contains vital clues as to what makes the male mind tick (apart from boobs, obviously). Prepare to laugh a very, very lot.

The Last Road Trip

By Gareth Crocker
Following the death of a man they barely knew, five friends decide to make the most of what’s left of their lives. Abandoning the humdrum routine of life at their retirement estate, they embark on a thousand-mile road trip that will take them from the furthest corner of the Kruger Park to the blazing stars of Sutherland for the biggest adventure of their lives and one last hurrah together. Along the way, they rediscover things about themselves that they thought had long since been lost. Above all, they discover that it’s never too late to start living.

The end of your life doesn’t have to mean the end of your story.

King

By Gareth Crocker
Elijah Rolene is a lost man. Following the death of his wife, he quits his job as a police pilot and turns to prescription painkillers for comfort. Not content to watch him destroy his life, his veterinarian sister convinces him to help out at her animal shelter.

Soon, they rescue a rare white lion cub from the heart of Detroit’s gangland. The lion is brought to live with them and instantly connects with Elijah’s autistic niece, Harper. As Harper is brought out of her shell, so Elijah begins to heal as well. But something happens that puts their family at risk and threatens to tear their world apart.

Elijah is faced with a question that will define the rest of his life:

As he presses a revolver to his head, Reece Cole sees his young daughter’s handprints on the windowpane. One last, painful reminder of her all too short life. But then he notices something about the handprints that defies belief. Something that verges on the impossible.

He spends the next few days frantically trying to make sense of what is happening. Then a stranger arrives at his gate with a small grey envelope.

Escaping an England crippled by the Great War, twin brothers Edward and Derek Hughes head to South Africa where, soon after their arrival, they discover a rare Desert Elephant – an animal believed by many to be a myth.

Following an ancient ghost trail to Bechuanaland, they find that the enormous matriarch is not alone. She is being pursued by relentless shadows, a black light that will stop at nothing to bring her down. To save her, the brothers must journey into the darkness.

A darkness, as it turns out, born of the terrible war they left behind.
An ancient elephant. A land of killers. One chance.

After losing his wife and daughter in a plane crash, US journalist, Fletcher Carson, joins the flagging war effort in Vietnam where he hopes to die. However, during one of his early missions he rescues a critically wounded Labrador and helps nurse him back to life. Fletcher names the dog Jack and as the bond deepens between them, he slowly regains his will to live.

After several successful operations together they return to base one day and discover that a ceasefire has been declared, officially bringing an end to the war. But it is soon followed by devastating news.

As the soldiers celebrate an end to the madness, the government announces that due to the cost of the withdrawal, all remaining US dogs serving in the war have been declared ‘surplus military equipment’ and will not be transported home. For the hundreds of dog handlers throughout Vietnam, whose dogs had saved countless lives, the news is greeted with shock and disbelief.

For Fletcher, he knows that if he abandons Jack, then he too will be lost.